Molecular Targets for Therapeutic Intervention after Spinal Cord Injury

Experimental treatment of rat spinal cord injuries. A. Treatments are applied typically at the lesion site but can also be applied to the cell body. B. Cellular events typify a chronic spinal cord injury. Primary cellular damage spreads the insult to surrounding cells and creates secondary damage that can supersede the original injury. Secondary damage includes a central acellular fluid-filled cyst surrounded by a glial scar. In a typical crush injury, axons per se are often left uninjured, intact but partially demyelinated, or severed. Degeneration of axons and myelin occurs distal to the injury site. Treatment paradigms may promote regeneration of severed axons into or around the injury site, possibly into the distal spinal cord. In addition, treatments often promote the sprouting of uninjured axons into areas of deafferentation.